Local film review: Wong Ka Yan

The story background is based on 90s environment of Hong Kong. The setting time slot is pre-1997 filmed in 1992.The genre of film is love and romance. It is a heartwarming touch story of humanity. It is based a true story happened in pre 1997 Hong Kong.

It seems like a romance love story about a boy, Chun Yin, who lives in island and fall in love with a girl who just been seen once before. However, audiences are surprised with the content. It is not only a love story, but also about people losing contact and connecting people together. It is a story which full of collective memory and love among people. In the story, he tries hard to find her out in many ways. He has called a thousand times to different people whom also named Wong Ka Yan in Hong Kong. In the journey, he meets a girl who called the same named, Wong Ka Yan, though calling to radio show. After that, she becomes his buddy and helps him a lot to find that girl. In the process, she falls in love to the boy, but he insists on finding the girl who met one before. He claims the girl is his true love. It is a twist that Wong Ka Yan helps him to find the girl and final knew that the girl is not named Wong Ka Yan. She is called Wong On Yan. Finally, a few years later, he destined meets she on a bus.

This film is nostalgia which shows the relationship of people before the change of 1997. It is a collective memory film toward 80s and 90s Hong Kong people. It is visualization of nostalgia through the details of setting. In the beginning scene, he goes to the cinema. The facilities show in the cinema performs in old style, even the way of buying tickets are in traditional form. More than that, the props are in details to match the generation in 90s. For instance, he uses the “yellow pages” to find out people whom named Wong Ka Yan and call them out one by one. Besides, the decorations of Chun Yin’s room are fully performed in antiquated way. The poster of Charlie Young and the beyond Laser Disc are the good evidences. 

The director Chau possesses a relaxing rural atmosphere, and the film's washed-out color transmits a sense of old-timey charm. The scene of time cross is good used in this film. A woman who goes back to island and finds out the place she had been before to linking up the whole story. The plot is attractive by using an inverted order to pass the time from 2015 to 1992. It is the best way to use nostalgia model too portray the mood and the collective memory of 1992. To emphases the mood and to raise the resonance of audiences, he put his personal experience on the film which based on a true story. Chun Yin actually is a friend of director. He is the one who helps for searching Wong Ka Yan on "Yellow Pages" in reality.

This nostalgia film has much collective memory reflected social reality in 90s and full of identifiable emotions. It explores the identity of Hong Kong people. It shows that people are in close relationship and willing to give out their hands when others need help. The actions and relationship reinforced the national allegory (2006) on identity in pre-1997.  Also, the people who named Wong Ka Yin are gathering with joy. Audiences whom had born in 80s to 90s generation are strongly resonated with this film.

References: 

Ahmad, A. (2006). Jameson’s Rhetoric of Otherness and the “National Allegory”. In B. Aschcroft, G. Griffiths & H. Tiffin (eds.). The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (2^nd ed.). (pp.84-88). Oxford: Routledge.

Lam Lok Sze, Cobby
21620587
Communication Studies